The Indian prime minister has demonstrated that there is only one form of journalism he likes.
By Amrita Singh, an assistant editor at the Caravan.
“A democracy like India is able to move ahead and function only because there is a vibrant feedback mechanism,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in an interview with Newsweek in April, days before voting in the Indian general election began. “Our media plays an important role in this regard.” He added that the “claims of diminishing media freedom” in India were “dubious.”
The interview read more like a press release from Modi, divided under subheadings. It did not feature a single mention of Manipur, where his government has failed to contain an ethnic civil war that has been raging since May 3, 2023, leading to more than 200 deaths. It allowed Modi to paint a rosy picture of the state of affairs in Kashmir, even as his government is widely known to have clamped down on civil liberties in the valley. He was not even challenged when he claimed that minorities, including Muslims, were “living happily and thriving” in India, despite regular documentation of violence against the community.
There were many similarities between this interaction and the rare interviews that Modi has given in his 10 years as prime minister, in which pliant journalists typically allow him to project himself as the leader of a flourishing democracy. Given a weak opposition and his preference for top-down communication, there is no platform, except for such interviews, where Modi could be questioned for his actions and Indians can witness the prime minister be put on a spot. But journalists who end up talking to him adopt an uncritical approach—they seldom question him on issues of national importance and, instead, often air sensational jingoistic content, cheerleading him and his policies. The impression a casual observer gets is that Modi’s truth is the truth and his actions are always in the best interest of the country.
Modi has demonstrated that this is the only form of journalism he would like in India—one that would clear his path to attain his and the Hindu right’s goals of retaining electoral power and establishing a Hindu rashtra, or nation. While those in the mainstream media, such as Times Now and Republic TV, often meet this requirement, his government cracks down on independent journalists who still question his actions. This is a worrying trend for a democracy: Propaganda is encouraged, and actual journalism is demonized.
This story was originally published in foreignpolicy.com. Read the full story here.